11 “Why ddid I not die at birth?

Why did I not 4perish when I came from the womb?

12 eWhy did the knees receive me?

Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?

13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet,

I would have been asleep;

Then I would have been at rest

14 With kings and counselors of the earth,

Who fbuilt ruins for themselves,

15 Or with princes who had gold,

Who filled their houses with silver;

16 Or why was I not hidden glike a stillborn child,

Like infants who never saw light?

17 There the wicked cease from troubling,

And there the 5weary are at hrest.

18 There the prisoners 6rest together;

iThey do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

19 The small and great are there,

And the servant is free from his master.

20 “Why jis light given to him who is in misery,

And life to the kbitter of soul,

21 Who llong 7for death, but it does not come,

And search for it more than mhidden treasures;

22 Who rejoice exceedingly,

And are glad when they can find the ngrave?

23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,

oAnd whom God has hedged in?

24 For my sighing comes before 8I eat,

And my groanings pour out like water.

25 For the thing I greatly pfeared has come upon me,

And what I dreaded has happened to me.

26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;

I have no rest, for trouble comes.”